Boxing in 2008

Originally published in the Britannica Book of the Year. Presented as archival content. Learn more.

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The long, highly successful boxing career of Oscar De La Hoya (U.S.) appeared to be at an end following his technical knockout defeat at the hands of Manny Pacquiao (Philippines) in a nontitle welterweight bout held on Dec. 6, 2008, at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas. The 35-year-old De La Hoya took the worst beating of his career before the fight was stopped between the eighth and ninth rounds. De La Hoya went into the bout as the betting favourite, mainly owing to the fact that he was a naturally larger man, while Pacquiao, who began his career as a flyweight, had never before fought above the lightweight division. Once the fight began, however, the left-handed Pacquiao dominated with speed, precision punching, and nimble footwork. The match—the largest-grossing fight of the year—drew a live crowd of more than 15,000, paying a gate in excess of $17 million, and sold pay-per-view television packages to approximately 1.25 million customers, which generated another $70 million in revenue.

Pacquiao, widely considered the best boxer in the world, fought three times during the year, in three different weight classes. On March 15 he won a narrow 12-round decision over Juan Manuel Márquez (Mexico) to win The Ring junior lightweight championship and World Boxing Council (WBC) super featherweight title. In his next bout, on June 28, Pacquiao moved up to the lightweight division and knocked out David Diaz (U.S.) in the ninth round to capture the WBC belt. Both bouts were held in Las Vegas. His accomplishments earned him The Ring magazine’s Fighter of the Year award. Márquez rebounded from his close loss, annexing The Ring lightweight championship on September 13 with an 11th-round knockout of Joel Casamayor (Cuba) in Las Vegas.

Defending WBC lightweight champion David Diaz struggles to rise after being knocked out by Manny …

The already confusing heavyweight picture became even more complicated when former WBC champion Vitaly Klitschko (Ukraine) returned to action for the first time since December 2004, after which he retired owing to a series of injuries. In his first comeback bout, on October 11, Klitschko took the WBC title with an eighth-round technical knockout of Samuel Peter (Nigeria) in Berlin. Peter had won the title on March 8 when he stopped Oleg Maskayev (Russia) in Cancun, Mex. The fact that Vitaly Klitschko and his younger brother, International Boxing Federation (IBF) titleholder Wladimir Klitschko (Ukraine), had refused to fight each other meant that a unification bout was unlikely. Wladimir Klitschko successfully defended the IBF title three times in 2008, winning a boring 12-round decision on February 23 over Sultan Ibragimov (Russia) at New York City’s Madison Square Garden, scoring an 11th-round knockout of Tony Thompson (U.S.) on July 12 in Hamburg, and stopping former champion Hasim Rahman (U.S.) in the seventh round on December 15 in Mannheim.

Undefeated World Boxing Association (WBA) heavyweight titleholder Ruslan Chagaev (Uzbekistan) successfully defended his belt on January 19, winning a 12-round decision over Matt Skelton (U.K.) in Düsseldorf, Ger. Injuries and illness, however, sidelined Chagaev for the remainder of the year, and Nicolay Valuyev (Russia) won the so-called interim WBA title on August 30 with a 12-round decision over John Ruiz (U.S.) in Berlin. In the final heavyweight title fight of the year, on December 20, Valuyev scored a controversial majority decision over 46-year-old former champion Evander Holyfield (U.S.) in Zürich.

In his first bout in the U.S., “unified” super middleweight champion Joe Calzaghe (U.K.) took The Ring and linear light heavyweight championship from Bernard Hopkins (U.S.) on April 19 via a 12-round split decision in Las Vegas. Calzaghe, undefeated in 46 professional bouts, returned to the U.S. and tallied a one-sided 12-round decision on November 8 over Roy Jones, Jr. (U.S.), at Madison Square Garden.

The 43-year-old Hopkins, considered close to retirement after losing to Calzaghe, returned on October 18 to score a stunning upset in a nontitle bout in Atlantic City, N.J., dominating reigning WBC middleweight champion Kelly Pavlik (U.S.) to win a 12-round decision and drawing rave reviews for his performance. Prior to his unexpected loss to Hopkins, Pavlik had won a 12-round decision on February 16 over former champion Jermain Taylor (U.S.) in a nontitle bout in Las Vegas and knocked out Gary Lockett (U.K.) on June 7 in the third round of a title defense in Atlantic City.

The retirement of welterweight champion and crossover star Floyd Mayweather, Jr. (U.S.), was a serious setback for the sport. A number of quality fighters battled to fill the void at welterweight: Antonio Margarito (Mexico) knocked out Kermit Cintrón (Puerto Rico) on April 12 in the sixth round of their bout in Atlantic City to win the IBF welterweight title. Next, in one of the year’s most thrilling fights, held on July 26 at the MGM Grand, Margarito came from behind to stop previously undefeated Miguel Cotto (Puerto Rico) in the 11th round to capture the WBA title; the bout generated approximately 450,000 pay-per-view sales. In order to fight Cotto, Margarito was forced to relinquish the IBF title, and that vacancy was filled on August 2 when Joshua Clottey (Ghana) won a ninth-round technical decision over Zab Judah (U.S.) in Las Vegas. Andre Berto (U.S.) won the vacant WBC welterweight title on June 21 by stopping Miguel Rodríguez (Mexico) in the seventh round in Memphis, Tenn. Berto made his first successful defense on September 27, winning a 12-round decision over Steve Forbes (U.S.) in Carson, Calif.

After having failed to take the welterweight championship from Mayweather in 2007, Ricky Hatton (U.K.) dropped back down in weight and on May 24 defended The Ring junior welterweight championship with a 12-round decision over Juan Lazcano (Mexico) at City of Manchester (Eng.) Stadium. Hatton retained the title again on November 22, stopping Paul Malignaggi (U.S.) in the 11th round in Las Vegas.

The best action fight of the year was the third bout of a junior featherweight trilogy between champion Israel Vázquez (Mexico) and former champion Rafael Márquez (Mexico), won on March 1 by Vázquez via a 12-round decision in Carson. The riveting blood-splattered slugfest was up for grabs going into the final round, when Vázquez knocked down Márquez in the closing moments of the bout to win the decision and retain The Ring and WBC super bantamweight titles.